Isolation
by Kirby77DP77
Summary: To be left completely alone, that is his biggest fear. And as Dave grows worse for the wear, Balthazar must jump in to save his apprentice... From himself.      Slight child abuse in second chapter     Please review!
1. Chapter 1

Balthazar was worried.

Yes, you heard correctly. No need to read that sentence a million times over to comprehend its meaning, because –yes- the dirty blonde, half crazed and half epic Sorcerer was… Worried. Now, about whom, you ask.

His apprentice, Dave Stutler, the Prime Merilinian.

Granted, he had only known the young Sorcerer for a few weeks, but Balthazar had really taken to him. The somewhat nerdy and nasally tone to his voice, the questioning nature, the quick reflexes of his cunning mind, his inability to lie, and the endless amount of courage- all things that the older man was quite fond of when he thought Dave. And now, no matter how many times the apprentice would deny it, Balthazar could read him like a book. He could read the tiny glimmer of pure emotion that always took home in the center of the college student's irises, and the way Dave bit his bottom lip when he gets frustrated or when he is contemplating something. Yes, Balthazar had been confident of his ability to know what the child was thinking without having to probe his mind –which Dave had asked him to refrain from doing a week ago.

Well… At least he _**had **_been confident. Although now, as he gazed at his apprentice from the armchair he sat in across the room, he wasn't so sure that Dave was all right.

Not that he would blame him, of course. It had been two weeks since the battle between the Prime Merilinian and Morgana le Fay had ended (Veronica had killed herself when they released Morgana out of pure cowardism), and hardly anything love wise seemed to be going right for the nerdy apprentice. Dave had stopped seeing Becky about a week after the relationship started. The young one had told him that she had just ignored him once the battle was over, and when Dave did get an evening with her, she only flirted with the other men there. When she took his apprentice to a strip joint, only to stare at the naked male population, Dave said with detest that he wanted nothing to do with her. Balthazar was happy to comply with a Mind Wiping lesson with her as the test subject.

Also, during the aftermath of the battle, his apprentice had left his roommate and moved in permanently to the subway station/lab/training area. Dave had convinced the old Sorcerer to stay with him too. They were staying in the old offices that he had renovated to become a house complete with a kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms. And Balthazar had to admit, it _**was**_ much easier to train now that their house was connected to their old subway station.

But… He could tell something was wrong with Dave. The dark purple circles under his glazed-over honey brown eyes had suggested that he hadn't been sleeping, and the older man could see that he had been losing weight, fifteen pounds maybe. However, the action that bothered him the most were the looks that he could see Dave shoot over at him. It was as if his student was afraid that he would disappear the next time he blinked!

Balthazar shook it off. He was probably just fretting over nothing. David was fine, maybe just a tad stressed over his school work. Yeah, that would explain the lack of sleep and the weight loss… Definitely stress. The dirty blonde nodded to himself as he walked with a cat-like grace to Dave's desk, placing a hand on the young man's shoulder. The teacher felt his charge flinch at the touch, only to relax when he saw his master standing behind him.

"I think," Balthazar's words rolled silkily off of his tongue as he plastered on a smirk, "I'm going to turn in for the night, Dave. I suggest you do the same, unless, of course you'd like to work yourself to death."

But Dave only shrugged. The apprentice turned back to his essay on molecular division, scribbling with a tiny ball point pen. As he did this he said hastily, "I can't I really need to get this paper finished. It's due next week and I want to have it done so it's done and I won't have to deal with it anymore. It'll be done." Dave didn't even take a breath as he babbled as his eyes darted across his essay like a madman. "I hate dealing with papers and essays and just about anything else that has to deal with writing. Writing sucks and I hope I can learn a spell that would write it for me. Spells are cool. When are we learning new spells? I wish that-"

A firm, but gentle hand muffled the young man's chattering mouth.

"Shut up, Dave you're giving me a migraine." Balthazar spoke with a finalized tone. "I did not just go through a thousand and three hundred years to get an apprentice to have him go mad from lack of sleep. It would have been a horrible waste of time."

"But Balthazar!" Dave half whinned half pouted as he pried back the man's hand, "If I don't get this done-"

The mentor was not to be swayed, however much Dave wanted him to leave him alone. It was painfully obvious that the younger man needed some serious rest. He looked dead on his feet. "I don't recall that it was up for discussion, _**apprentice**_. Bed. _**Now**_."

Seeing that he wouldn't win, Dave sighed in resignation. Balthazar watched as he stood up from his desk, and brushed away the firm hand that he had placed on his shoulder, only for the student to become light-headed and drop when he took his first step. Weightlessness looked to momentarily take over Dave's body as his head led the tumble to the hard cobblestone floor.

A jolt of panic swept into the elder Sorcerer. He ran forward as Dave crumpled to the ground, barely catching him as he fell. Balthazar let his warm arms enveloped his apprentice's thin body, keeping him from falling from his grip and onto the floor. A moment passed before the young man's glazed eyes hesitantly cracked open to see the familiar smirking face of his mentor towering over him. David's face burned as embarrassment must have flown through him, causing a bright blush to erupt onto his face.

Balthazar let out a snicker of laughter at his student's embarrassment, although inside he was still trying to calm his rapidly thumping heart from the fear that had pulsed through it. His worry had turned to intense fear, now. This was definitely not from a simple case of nerves or stress if his charge couldn't stay on his feet! But Balthazar smothered his fear and concern behind a mask of amusement.

"I never realized that a person's face could get so red," he commented lightly to the young one in his arms, only to receive a scowl in return. Dave opened his mouth to either reprimand the man or to thank him –Balthazar will never know- but any words that were going to be spoken, were quickly silenced by a deep yawn.

Balthazar felt the corners of his mouth quirk up. "You know Dave, I hate to say that I told you so, but… I told you so." He hoisted the frail apprentice deeper into his arms as he stood up, carrying Dave bridal style to the house.

"I could just levitate myself, you know." the older Sorcerer heard the young one huff as his cheeks grew even redder.

Balthazar just grimaced with his reply, "You can barely walk, Dave. There is no way that you would have nearly enough strength to lift yourself, and if I levitated you then your magic would naturally want to fight with the conflicting magic." The Sorcerer continued with a small glimmer of warning in his blue irises. "And since you are too weak to handle your body naturally warding something off… Well, I really don't feel like having to carry you all the way to the morgue. You're sort of heavy."

Dave paled, rushing out a quick, "Never mind you carrying me is great."

Balthazar nodded in agreement as he opened the door to the far right of the subway station. He entered the house, casting the usual security enchantments behind him. The living room opened up to him, and he laid his exhausted apprentice down on a comfy chocolate brown couch. He didn't want to have the poor kid wait any longer for the sleep he desperately needed, so the Sorcerer figured that a makeshift bed downstairs would work. Besides, this way, he could keep an eye on his trouble attracting apprentice. Then, when Balthazar seemed to internally agree with the idea, his hand waved to the stairs, and Dave's pillow and blanket floated down the stairway and onto the now asleep apprentice.

He felt a genuine smile creep past his lips at how relaxed Dave looked when he slept. The sweet oblivion must have been treating him well, since all worry lines on the kid's face had dissipated, along with the tight non-relaxed muscles that had been so high strung, that Balthazar could've sworn that Dave was waiting for someone to creep up behind him and stab him or something.

The old Sorcerer let out a quiet groan. After all that had happened that night…. He needed some air. Balthazar took another glance at his apprentice before turning around and just as he was about to open the door, he froze.

"Don't go," Dave's small, pleading voice cut through the peaceful silence like a knife, wounding his mentor's heart. "Please, don't leave me."

Balthazar spun back to the apprentice with wide eyes. He closed the distance between them with his powerful strides, until he got close enough to the moaning boy that he realized that Dave was still asleep. He was dreaming.

And thrashing!

The kid's limbs were flying everywhere as Dave started sobbing in his sleep. "PLEASE! DON'T GO!" He screeched.

Balthazar tried to restrain the young man by attempting to pin his arms to the couch, but it seemed to make him panic even more. So instead, the Sorcerer took the sobbing young one in his arms, like he had when he had caught him. His arms coiled around Dave's chest, trapping the kid's arms without making it feel like someone was actually restraining him. Balthazar let a sickening instinct of some kind take over as he hummed in the child's ear comfortingly as he rocked him back and forth. Dave had even sunk into his mentor's chest at one point to cry into his cotton black button up shirt under his trench coat, soaking it completely. His screams had let up a bit too. They lessened to a few whimpers and the occasional, "Please! I'm sorry."

And suddenly, Balthazar realized just what had been troubling his apprentice. It wasn't his school work or even Becky, but his nightmares. They probably didn't let him actually sleep restfully, which would explain the exhaustion and also the lack of appetite and loss of weight. Poor Dave was most likely too confused or distraught to eat. That means that he needed to get him out of that dream so his apprentice could actually get a portion of a good night's sleep.

"Dave," Balthazar said in his ear with a shake. "Dave." He tried to get louder, but as the Sorcerer increased his volume, Dave responded by sobbing louder and louder, as if it upset him.

He considered other ways of waking him. For example: dumping water on him, or screaming as loud as possible in his ear. However, Balthazar looked at the delicate apprentice sobbing on his chest, and dumped all thoughts of cruelly waking him.

But… there was a page in the _Incantus _that struck a chord with this situation. It was a spell named, "Dream Weaver". This spell –if properly done- could allow a Sorcerer to travel into another's subconscious, and take part in the dream.

Yes, that would work.

Balthazar placed two fingers on the apprentice's forehead, and concentrated on phased his way into Dave's dream.

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_**I don't own the Sorcerer's Apprentice, 2010.**_

**_Thank you all for reading, and please review! The next chapter should be up shortly!_**

**_kirby_**


	2. Chapter 2

_**A big thank you to:**_

**_riinala19, SiriusDoctorWhoHoney329, JulietFloraWinters, psychotic7796, kenobigirliz, I play wid fir3, Loremipsum, starryblossoms, toripaige224, Wragziez, LaylaBinx, Author Squared, CrissyGrace, TTCyclone, and Bane WolfBlood. _**

**_I really appreciated the feedback and tried to alter this chapter accordingly._**

* * *

Darkness surrounded the dirty blonde haired Sorcerer as he entered Dave's subconscious. He was in a room cloaked in a veil of blackness, except for a dim flickering light that hung over a rotten wood door that was hanging by a single hinge. Over the door was a single word embossed in sterling silver, "Dreams and Nightmares". Balthazar pushed his way through the decrepit door, his trench coat billowing behind him. Whatever was behind that door, he knew he had to wake Dave up. The young apprentice was going to get sick if he wasn't allowed to sleep.

Taking large strides, he made his way to the center of the new room, taking in his surroundings. This room was even darker than the first one. No light shone here, making the place look completely void of anything.

_Did I skip a step in the spell? _Balthazar thought as his eyebrows furrowed in self doubt, _But it said that this was the room was his 'dreaming room'. Perhaps Dave is suffering from something else-_

A flash interrupted the Sorcerer's musing, and he soon stood before a beautiful middle class Victorian home with a flourishing garden in the front. It had a long driveway that was paved perfectly that led to a pristine teak mailbox. The box read, 'The Stutler's' in golden calligraphy, but below the large letters laid two loopy signatures that read 'Lucy F.I. R. and Nat A.S.' and what looked like a child's scrawl that said, 'David'.

It was a bit too happy and cheery to fit Balthazar's taste, but he bit back a gag and pressed forward. He opened the solid oak door and trudged inside what he now knew to be Dave's old home. As soon as he stepped inside, surprise purged through him.

Terribly tacky mustard yellow flower print wall paper enclosed the entire room that echoed the horrible sight with… Oh dear Lord….Clashing purple couches, violet coffee tables and book shelves, indigo pillows…. **_Neon_** purple window treatments embossed with stitching of the ugly yellow flowers. Afraid of being unable to hold his lunch down made him move swiftly to the next room. To his dismay, however, it wasn't much better. In the place of the purple and yellow sat a kitchen with much white that it hurt his eyes.

Balthazar scowled. This was getting frustrating. Where was Dave? It couldn't be that hard to find a kid in his own nightmare!

**_Thud!_**

Wait. What was that noise?

**_Thud. Slam. Thud. Slam. Thud. Slam. Thud. Slam. Thud. Slam. Thud. Slam. Thud. Slam. Thud. Slam. Thud. Slam. Thud. Slam. Thud. Slam. Thud. Slam. Thud. Slam. Thud. Slam. Thud. Slam. Thud. Slam. Thud. Slam. Thud. Slam. THUD!_**

The Sorcerer jumped at the loudest 'thud', and spun around to the slightly random giant, thirty-seven step, hot pink, and bedazzled staircase behind him, only to see a crying ten year old at the base of the stairs that he had obviously fallen down.

Dave.

Balthazar moved to approach the child, but before he could, two thin figures calmly waltzed down that mountain of pink sparkles. A tall lean woman sneered at the child below, and a black haired man with bleach blonde highlights approached the sobbing child first. His checkered sweater vest and striped collared shirt with kakis seemed to radiate 'rich snob' as the preppy man reached down to the boy's shoulder. He grasped it firmly as little-Dave sobbed out, "I'm sorry," again and again. And with the shoulder that the man had in a 'comforting' grip, he shoved the boy off of the last step and onto the floor.

Balthazar saw red. How **_dare_** him! A feral growl emitted from the Sorcerer as he made to take a step, only to realize that the floor had melded so that he had sunk in to his ankles, and hardened again to have him rooted to the ground. But he only hissed in discomfort, and waved his hand to free himself and chain up the madman attacking his apprentice. Well, that's what should have happened. In actuality, nothing resulted from Balthazar's attempt at magic except for a furious Sorcerer being sent into a cursing fit. He could do nothing but watch.

"Get up, Mistake." The gruff voice demanded to the thin child as he kicked him in the ribs.

The hysterically crying Dave increased his sobbing, gripping his torso as he labored to his feet. The tears stained the boy's shirt as the continued to fall, only falling faster as the man started to scream.

"I TOLERATED YOUR LIVING HERE FOR LONG ENOUGH, MISTAKE. I WILL NOT HAVE A CRAZED **_THING_** UNDER MY ROOF!" The man ranted, totally ignoring the child's distress.

"Please," Dave wept, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to Daddy!"

Suddenly, everything Balthazar was thinking froze on its self, leaving all but one thought stopped. He couldn't believe it… That man was calling his own son, his own flesh and blood, a thing…. That man was hurting his **_own son_** mentally and emotionally, to an extent that Dave would be having nightmares of it in his twenties. That man… No. He wasn't a man. The being standing over his apprentice was a monster.

"YOU ARE NO SON OF MINE! AND I WILL NOT HAVE YOUR LYING IN MY HOME-"

The red faced ten year old screamed out through his sob, "I'm not telling a lie! It was real! Balthazar saved me from the bad man in the store!"

A look of happiness crossed Dave's face that shocked Balthazar. Did meeting him really cause the boy this much genuine joy?

"Who would protect **_you_**?" A look of disgust passed over the man's features. His face looked pinched, as if he was being forced to eat a cockroach. "You are worth nothing! Now, you worthless Mistake, GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

And Dave did just that. Fleeing out of the house with nothing but the clothes on his back, a bull dog, and a ring on his finger, the ten year old took off through the door. Then, just as the child opened it, Balthazar was released from the floor.

The Sorcerer tore after his apprentice, running faster than he had in a long time. He made it out of the door and sprinted down the driveway eyes peeled for Dave. Until he saw a thin figure doubled over and leaning on the mailbox.

"Dave!" He called, but the child could not hear him as the man stood next to him. Balthazar tried to tap him on the back to get his attention; however, his finger just went completely through Dave's back.

Swearing in frustration, the elder Sorcerer merely watched as the red-eyed ten year old put all of his weight on the metal box. Dave then pulled out a permanent marker, and scribbled out the third name, 'David'.

And as Dave finished, Balthazar felt the world dim and suddenly flash until he was standing in a completely different place.

**_FLASH!_**

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**_ I don't own the Sorcerer's Apprentice, 2010._**

**_So... Was it all right? Original? In character? PLEASE give me some feed back! (Sorry about the shortness, by the way.)_**

**_kirby_**


	3. Chapter 3

**_I don't own the Sorcerer's Apprentice, 2010. _**

**_Sorry about updating so late! I had a bout of writers block, but I'm over it. :J_**

**__****_Thank you for all that reviewed! Sorry I don't have time to add your names here._**

**_Enjoy!_**

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Now, the Sorcerer realized, he was standing in a school classroom filled with fourth graders. There was no teacher to be found, and upon a quick scan of the class, he found Dave huddled at a small desk with a rather large book in his hands entitled, 'Physics'. It looked to be way more advanced than any old fifth grader could read, but Balthazar knew better when it came to Dave. That kid could read through anything.

Then, another child had approached him. It was a really fat four foot blonde boy with a bright yellow shirt that had black lines running vertically down it. The Sorcerer had to hold back a snicker at his appearance, because he looked like a freakishly misshapen bumble bee. The chubby bee was yelling and grabbed the eleven year old's book.

A look of defiance crossed Dave's features as he held firmly onto the book as the bumble bee yanked on it from the other end. And the fat boy, seeing that he was losing, started to play dirty. He looked over his shoulder, yelling with an insulting tone, "LOOK! THE NUTJOB CAN READ! SOMEONE CALL 911 BEFORE HE HURTS HIMSELF!"

Balthazar again set his gaze on the small apprentice. To say that Dave looked hurt was an understatement, as if he had been called crazy for a long time. There were stress lines in the child's face as well as a dead look to his brown eyes that just made him look… well… **_dead_**.

The Sorcerer felt a stab of anger pulse through his heart. A child of eleven should not have had to deal with everything that Dave did, it just wasn't right! The to-be apprentice should have been running around with his friends, flirting with peers and enjoying what childhood he had left… Not becoming an **_isolated _**child that grew to have the emotional scars that he now knew Dave to have.

"DON'T CALL ME CRAZY!" He screamed back, spitting with fury. "I. AM. NOT. A. NUTJOB!"

Bumble bee looked ecstatic at this reaction. "It's all right, freak. We called an ambulance for you so you can be freakish out of our sight!"

"I'm not crazy, Ben!" The teary-eyed accused fought back as he withheld tears, "That day in that shop was real, so STOP CALLING ME CRAZY!" Looks of disbelief flew across the class. And Dave asked desperately, "Doesn't **_anyone _**believe me?"

The elder Sorcerer narrowed his eyes. This idiotic child's rantings were obviously hurting his apprentice more than could be shown on Dave's pale face. Just how bad were these people to him? Balthazar then glared at the children in the room, as if daring them to go against Dave's question, even though he couldn't be seen, heard or feared by the children. So, he waited for the idiots to answer his poor apprentice with a tiny murmur of comfort, or… Well, just about any form of positive reinforcement would have been mildly appreciated by both himself and the young Dave.

But nobody spoke up. No child said anything, not even a whisper, and Balthazar could see some gleam snap in Dave's eyes.

He knew that it was the last remnant of hope that had broken.

**_FLASH!_**

This Balthazar recognized! There were green meadows and park benches that led way into a gated entrance, and the concrete fountains that adorned the center of the field. It was Bowling Green Park in Manhatten, the park that Dave defeated Morgana. But… something was off about this place. An eerie silence had shrouded over the park like a veil, covering it with blackened quietness, and everything seemed to be completely still.

Unmoving.

Silent.

Balthazar took in his surroundings with a puzzled expression. The scorch marks from Morgana's fire were there as were the wires Dave had used to electrocute her, so she had probably already been killed. Then, why was he even here?

Nothing else of significance had even happened after that fight! The Sorcerer sighed, eyebrows furrowing together. He needed to think like Dave.

Urg. That was a scary thought. Thinking like Dave could end up with drastic consequences… like dating a psycho blonde chick and almost electrocuting her with musical Tesla coils or something like that.

Or, Merlin forbid… Having to listen to modern music.

Hell no.

"Balthazar!"

He was frantically burst out of his rock band related thoughts as he heard Dave's adult voice scream his name. The older Sorcerer ran down the stairs to an exhausted looking Dave that was kneeling over someone's body. Someone that had dirty blonde hair, a trench coat, and-

Oh crap.

It was him! That meant that it was the time that his apprentice saved him. He tried to get the college student's attention again, but no avail. His hand merely went right through him again, like in all the other dreams. So, he watched.

Dave called his name, shaking him, and yelling for his body to wake up, a desperate expression came to his face. "No!" He screamed, tears bubbled up in his eyes, "PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME! BALTHAZAR! PLEASE, I'M SORRY! JUST COME BACK!"

The older Sorcerer felt his eyes widen at Dave's cries. They were identical to the ones he had heard outside of the dreams… So this dream seemed to have the most affect on his apprentice…. But why? Shouldn't the abuse of his parents been the scariest?

Why would Dave care if he died? He had only known him for a few weeks!

The distraught apprentice's eyes lit with a hopeless fury as he charged a plasma bolt in his hands that looked to be the strongest Dave had ever made.

A smirk let its way onto Balthazar's face at the plasma bolt. He'd have to ask Dave later if he was trying to re-kill him with much energy. That bolt had to be at least two feet wide on either side!

"I refuse to let you go! Not after all you've saved me from! Please, BALTHAZAR, COME BACK!" He punctuated his words with his jump-starting technique with the precision of an ER doctor.

Tears started to run down his face now, and sobs racked his thin frame. His red puffy eyes never left him, though, as if he'd disappear. "PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!" More power flooded into the now four foot wide plasma bolts as he tried to jump-start his master's heart again. "I WON'T LET YOU GO!"

Stunned at the sheer amount of emotion, Balthazar let an involuntary step back. Self hate flooded his body. How could he have let Dave have to go through that? After everything the young Sorcerer had **_already_** been through…

Balthazar could have slapped himself, and he could have sworn he felt guilt seep into his heart.

"...And your old man shoes…"

And then what Balthazar remembered from Dave's speech came in. He started to insult him and his old man shoes in a softer tone, in an even more desperate attempt to wake his body up. As his body's eyes opened, Balthazar smiled at his apprentice's reaction. He had honestly never seen the kid so relieved, happy, and… well, he looked… overjoyed.

But then, as the Balthazar went to sit beside Dave, he was shocked to see that the hand he had unconsciously put on Dave's shoulder didn't go through the apprentice. The elder gasped softly.

But that turned out to be a rather large mistake.

Dave spun around with wide eyes of fear and screeched like a banshee, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

The dream fizzled out in front of him, and he was shot out of his young apprentice's subconscious with a **_THUD_**.

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**_*Grins* I never thought that they did this scene right in the movie. I mean, yeah the insults were an awesome touch, but I expected more… Desperation, I suppose. I mean, the scene wasn't bad, but it left me wanting more. Loved the movie, though._**

**_So what do you think so far?_**


	4. What Happened?

_**I don't own The Sorcerer's Apprentice, 2010.**_

_**I apologize for the wait. I will give you a good excuse when I find time to pump out a longer chapter. Sorry!**_

_**This chapter is not meant for length, by the way. Just torturing Dave. **_

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Dave was… confused, overloaded… His head just hurt in general. No… not just his head. It was his brain, it felt like it had been beaten with a jack hammer after being sent through a blender… And he felt nausea boil in his gut…

_**What happened?**_

Uggg….

Why was the room spinning?

He felt his stomach heave and pitch nasty yellow bile through his mouth and down his front. His hands were weakly shuddering...

Where was he again?

His vision was blurring angrily as the colors of where ever he was were blending together into a single blob… Then his throbbing head got heavier and heavier-

He gasped as he jolted upward.

Too fast… Black spots in front of the blended colors… The backround got blacker and blacker…

A firm a hand on his arm stabilized him from the fall he had not realized he had been in, and shook him gently.

"Dave!"

Who?

He felt his hearing failing when his ears popped and added more pain to the list. He felt so tried... So weak...

"Dav.."

"Da…"

"D.."

"…."

The voice faded into nothing…

And he felt strangely warm… What was that called again a flu- No… A fev… A fever!

What are those symptoms again?

Wait… What are symptoms….?

As he tried to concentrate he felt his brain constrict and before he realized it he was out cold on the floor.

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**kirby**


	5. Chapter 5

_**I don't own The Sorcerer's Apprentice, 2010.**_

* * *

He stood over his apprentice, shaking as he felt for a pulse in the feverish Sorcerer. Balthazar had abandoned his attempts to wake his young charge after he had blacked out moments ago, but he needed to get to work. Dave's pulse was weak and irregular, pounding with a fluttering tempo that wavered every few seconds.

Not good.

Balthazar placed the back of his cool hand on Dave's stressed forehead only to recoil at the high temperature. He was running a very high fever, possibly brain damaging.

Also not good.

But this wasn't right! He knew that when a person has a fever the pulse is supposed to get faster to cool the body down faster…

The elder Sorcerer, with a glint of concern swirling in his irises, called a wash cloth laced with frost and filled with ice cubes from the kitchen, fearing for just conjuring a frozen cloth. Magic could conflict… Sickness could get worse… No good possibility really existed when it came to magic and sickness. He laid it on the apprentice's red forehead, watching the rapidly melting water droplets trail down the tense lines ingrained in the young man's face, and down the tired violet circles under Dave's eyes.

Balthazar then put his ear to his apprentice's thin chest. He could hear the quiet thump of his heart, and the eased flowing of oxygen from his lungs.

Regular breathing, check.

The elder man ran his fingers through his curly hair. He needed to get that fever down before Dave started to have some really serious effects like memory loss or something to that nature. Standing up, Balthazar all but ran to the kitchen, grabbing a thick towel on his way to soak it in the cold water in the sink.

He massaged his temples as he waited for the towel to saturate with the cooling liquid. This was bad. Dave was potentially dying with that high of a fever, and Balthazar couldn't use his magic to help him. Be sure to apply this with the fact that he hadn't taken care of a sick person in a _**long**_ time.

The sea foam green towel was now at least three pounds denser with the water as he carried it back to Dave's weakened form with fast strides. Kneeling back next to the couch he peeled the sweaty t-shirt off of his apprentice's torso to replace it with the wet towel-

Balthazar did a double take, dropping the towel in the process. Shock filtered across his face that was quickly changed into fury that morphed into compassion. "Oh Dave," he whispered as he looked at the scene before him.

His frail apprentice's upper body was littered with bright white scars from deep lacerations. Then there were the prominent ribs that just about protruded through the skin of Dave's abdomen. The thing that infuriated Balthazar the most was the long, two inch thick ribbon of scarred tissue that wrapped around from the end of his right shoulder blade around Dave's midsection, and to his left hip.

When he figure out who did this… They were going to pay.

Balthazar let out an angered breath as he gently laid the towel upon Dave's fever ridden body, and made himself focus on the task at hand. He needed to bring down that temperature and get Dave out of that unconsciousness so he could get some rest.

"Dave." His firm voice called as he patted Dave's wet cheek. But nothing happened-

"Dave!"

His apprentice was suddenly wracked with tremors as Dave started to seize. The apprentice twitched and jolted from his spot on the couch, and Balthazar stood frozen. Dave twitched for a moment before it got more violent. Limbs flailing, the young man threw himself off of the couch only for Balthazar to catch him at the last possible moment.

Balthazar clutched Dave tightly as the younger flailed in his arms, scaring the living daylights out of the man. He had _**no idea**_ what he was supposed to do!

"Dave! DAVE!" He screamed, hoping his charge would wake, but he kept twitching madly.

Tears were now streaming down the apprentice's face as a torturous look fell upon the young one's facial features. But Balthazar could only hold the weak student in his comforting arms as the shaking subsided. And when it did, the older Sorcerer couldn't help but sigh in relief.

Then suddenly a sharp inhale of oxygen broke Balthazar's thoughts as he looked down at his now waking apprentice. Relief flooded through his being along with an unshakable motherly instinct that must have crept up on him like a black cat in the dead of night.

"Dave? How are you feeling? Dave?"

There was no reply for a few moments. Until Dave's glazed eyes looked up at him."B-b-b-bal…tha….zar?" He whispered, but his eyelids were drooping with fatigue and Dave was forcing them to stay open. This didn't escape Balthazar's attention.

Rubbing his charges forehead soothingly with his circling thumb, Balthazar said with a smile, "Of course, who else?" Dave let a ghost of a smile light up his desolate features before Balthazar continued. "Now go to sleep, Dave. I will be here when you wake up."

He didn't need to be told twice. Dave was out like a light in seconds, drifting into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

Balthazar had a long night after he had placed Dave back on the couch. He rotated melting and frozen washcloths in and out of the freezer, re-soaked the towel, and even ran to Dave's section of the subway turnaround to find some Tylenol or Advil to lower that fever. This cycle continued well into the morning of the next day and into the afternoon until Dave's one hundred and five degree fever lowered to an easier to deal with one hundred.

Now, at least he won't be getting any drain bramage- er, he meant brain damage. (Maybe staying up for who knows how long was taking its toll…)

But Dave did look much better. The dark purple raccoon mask of dark circles was receding to the regular skin color, also the stressed lines on the young man's face had lessened as he slept without any dreams, and the flushed skin had gone down from fire engine red to an angry pink as his fever dropped. Yes, he was better, but the apprentice was still not well.

And to make it worse, he and Dave needed to have a chat about his childhood when he was well again. Sooner would be better than later…

"Balthazar?" A hoarse voice abruptly ended his train of thought as Balthazar rushed for a glass of water to shove down his apprentice's throat.

Punctuating his demand with a commanding, "Drink, you still have a fever." the elder man helped his apprentice sit up to consume the beverage.

As soon as the well rested Dave had finished the glass, a confused look passed over his features. "I distinctly remember having a shirt on earlier," He said with a raised eyebrow, "and Balthazar, why am I wet?"

And the older man couldn't resist. He said with a smirk, "Sounds like a personal problem to me."

"Balthazar, seriously?" Dave blushed at his master's dirty mind before breaking off into a rough coughing fit. Wheezing and hacking, Dave painfully heaved up air for a long while until Balthazar slammed a glass of ice water into his shaking hands.

"Drink."

"Thanks, I appreciate-"

"Drink the damn water already!"

* * *

And that was about how the next hour and a half went for Balthazar and his young apprentice, only stopping the tedious cycle for the occasional Advil to keep Dave's fever maintainable. It eventually dropped to ninety-nine degrees, making two Sorcerer's very happy- the elder especially. But the relief would not last long. Soon would come the awkward conversation between Dave and Balthazar and the older Sorcerer was expecting screaming and one angry David.

He was kidding himself if he thought Dave would be all right with his little divergence into his apprentice's person dreams. Yes, maybe the conversation would go like this:

"Hello Dave, you know how I invaded your privacy and scared the living hell right out of you?"

"Yeah, it was pretty disturbing."

"Well, you forgive me right?"

"Yeah, sure. Here, oh wonderful master of mine, have a cookie."

Yeah, he was pretty confident that was **_not _**how that was going to go down... Although cookies would be nice... However, for now, Balthazar needed to mentally prep himself.

This conversation was going to be hell.

* * *

_**So.. what do you think? I've been trying to crank out another chapter, but I've been having severe writers block. Sorry!**_

_**Please leave your thoughts and reviews! Thank you!**_

_**kirby**_


	6. The Final Chapter

**_I don't own The Sorcerer's Apprentice, 2010._**

**_The Final Chapter_**

* * *

"Balthazar, would you stop shoving water down my throat!" The frustrated young apprentice jerked his head away from the incoming tall glass of ice water. An exasperated glint sparkled in his eyes as he said, "I don't have a fever anymore, so no need for the constant-," he shoved the hand holding the glass away again, "water! I'm fine!"

Balthazar rolled his eyes at the couch-ridden Dave, covering his concerned look with fake amusement. His apprentice had been awake for half an hour, but the elder Sorcerer could still see the glazed eyes and the faintly flushed flesh of Dave's cheeks. He didn't have the fever- as his jumpy apprentice continually points out- however, Dave was still weak.

Sighing with resign, Balthazar put the water on the coffee table and swapped it with the bottle of a strengthening tonic. (At least, that's what he told Dave. His little apprentice didn't need to know it was just liquefied chicken noodle soup.) He jammed it down Dave's throat before the young man could protest.

Spluttering and coughing at the hot liquid scalding his throat, the young apprentice gave a fierce glare in his master's direction. As nice as the gesture was, he was getting pretty darn tired of Balthazar tending to his every unwanted whim, even though as much as he didn't want to admit it, Dave knew he was getting better only from his master's care. Not that it lessened the jagged glare he shot at Balthazar.

However, Balthazar just smirked in a purely Balthazar, I-win-you-lose way while he lightly hummed, 'If Looks Could Kill'. The older Sorcerer's humming granted Dave a small smile

"Aren't you a little old for pop culture references, Balthazar?" His apprentice grinned as he started with the playful banter.

But the Sorcerer of the seven hundred and seventy-seventh degree just shot back without censoring his words first, "Aren't you a little young for a life threatening illness?"

Damn. That was definitely not how he wanted to start the conversation. Inwardly wincing as he saw his apprentice freeze, Balthazar wished he could have been more tactful with his wording.

"Life threatening?" Dave's eyes had widened to irregular proportions as he demanded an answer from his master. "What do you mean _**life threatening**_? Sure I was out for awhile but it wasn't…"

In his defense, Balthazar had made a speech for this little conversation and the even more personal one, however, life liked to throw his curve balls and he improvised. Apparently for Balthazar, improvisation means be really blunt. He replied calmly as he mixed his tea, "You almost died." Off handily he continued as if he was conversing with him about the weather. "You had a low pulse, an extremely high fever of one hundred and five, a seizure, and you were unconscious for a few hours before you slept. Fever leads to potential brain damage, or you heart could have stopped, or even the seizure could have done something that I couldn't fix. You're a very lucky person Dave. I doubt you'd die even if I sent you into a battle ring in a Dreamworks film with several real dragons surrounded by real blood-thirsty Vikings. I think the most you'd get would be the hiccups."

However, Dave only gasped out a timid, "Good to know." He was shocked to say the least. It had never even crossed his mind that he could have potentially perished if it wasn't for Balthazar…. He was about to thank the Sorcerer profusely, but Balthazar –like always- had other plans.

Propping his apprentice up on several pillows, the older man initiated the awkward conversation he had been dreading. (He would have rather taken the 'Birds and Bees' talk…)

Balthazar took a deep breath as he thought of a good way to start this. He could apologize for invading Dave's privacy, but then again… He wasn't really sorry for that. He only did it for the health of his apprentice.

Well, he could start off with some heavy duty brown nosing. He could just make Dave some cookies… Balthazar would just have to keep that fire extinguisher nearby in case there was a repeat of his first cooking attempt with the nuclear explosions-

On second thought, skip the cooking.

He thought for a few more seconds in the odd silence he and Dave were sitting in before eloquently 'screwing it' and accepting his fate.

"I believe this is the part where you start yelling at me for invading your privacy, Dave."

Taken aback, the weak apprentice raised an eyebrow away from his wide eyes. He shot back a confused, "What are you talking about? Invading my privacy?" Dave stopped for a moment before giving Balthazar a panicked look. "You didn't see _**that**_, did you? I swear it's nothing, Balthazar! I didn't even buy it, I got it as a Christmas present-"

Balthazar's hand met his forehead as he did a face-palm. Abruptly stopping his apprentice, he spoke with an odd tone in his voice. "I don't think we're talking about the same thing Dave." His eyebrows lifted playfully as he asked, "But what is it that's in your room, Dave?"

Resembling a deer in headlights and a gaping fish, the younger man blushed in embarrassment. "Nothin- Wait, then what are _**you**_ talking about?"

An idea popped into Balthazar's head, a glorious theory that he was sure had just gotten him off the hook. Testing his theory, the master sat on the other side of the couch and looked into Dave's chocolate brown eyes.

"Dave," he started, pushing his dirty blonde hair out of his eyes, "what is the very last thing that you remember?"

An internal grin started out on Balthazar's face as Dave looked confused yet again. Maybe his apprentice didn't remember the encounter in his dreams at all! Although, he wasn't quite sure how that would have come to pass. It wasn't like Dave hit his head or anything… Wait… the fever! It had been at brain damaging levels, so he supposed it could wipe out some memory…

"You were carrying me back here."

And instantly, Balthazar cheered inside. He was off the hook! And Dave had brain damage! Yeah! Everything would be fine. He didn't have to risk the relationship with his apprentice, and he knew more about the kid's childhood and home life!

However, that is when Balthazar's hopes and dreams went tumbling down like Long John Silver in a Michael Jackson moon walk contest. He still had to talk to Dave about his parents… That was one issue that he would not let go unchecked, especially after seeing that nasty looking scar on his apprentice's torso. (He guessed that it was done by a hunter's knife since it was the width that it was and how clean a cut it seemed to have been.)

Damn it, he wasn't in the clear at all.

"You know Dave, dreams are a funny thing." Balthazar warily said with a faraway glint in his irises, "They can be good, bad, terrify us, lull us to sleep or just have no effect on us; and there is a spell that can transport a Sorcerer into one of another person's dreams to calm the person from the inside." Balthazar gave Dave a knowing stare.

The younger man froze whispering a mortified, "You didn't."

One look at Dave's fear filled eyes was all he needed to get angry at those God-forsaken "parents" of his. How dare they make his apprentice so terrified of just talking about a dream! Holding in a growl of fury, the master regained his composure and replied with a shrug, "It was necessary."

"What did you see?" Barely catching the panicked murmur of shock from his apprentice, Balthazar turned to look at the swirling of emotions conflicting in Dave's chocolate orbs. He looked almost as frightened as he had when Balthazar had seen him resurrecting his master.

"Just the night at Battery Park, a class after the Arcana Cabana, "The older Sorcerer tried to down play it a little, if only to keep Dave from fainting in fear, however, it didn't seem to be working. "And Lucy and Nat Stutler. Really not -"

He stopped when Balthazar saw his charge tremble and tears well up in those lost eyes of his. Dave's lip quivered as if he wanted to say something, but as he met Balthazar's eyes, he knew there was nothing that needed to be said. The master wrapped his arm around the shaking youth's shoulders hesitantly, not sure if Dave would shake him off, but his apprentice only leaned closer to him.

Balthazar pretended not to notice when tears and breakneck sobs filled the room to conserve whatever pride Dave had left. So, he stroked the apprentice's soaked chestnut hair with the concern of a loving father.

They remained there for who knows how long, with Balthazar comforting Dave the best that he knew how and with Dave clinging to his master as if he feared drowning in his own tears. However, the young man soon cried all he had in him and quieted the sobs.

So without another word, a tear soaked Balthazar got up and left the room, leaving a mentally distraught Dave feeling a little abandoned until his master came back with a dry towel and a stack of dry clothes. He gestured to the apprentice's dripping figure and threw him the towel bundle of clothing all the while saying, "You'll get a cold if you stay like that. Take your time getting dressed; you are still weak from the fever."

Nodding half with surprise and half with understanding, Dave smiled with puffy red eyes at the blonde haired Sorcerer before choking out a soft, "Thank you Balthazar, really."

Sensing the deeper meaning than just the clothes, Balthazar replied with a small grin, "Anytime, Dave, anytime."

* * *

Dave moaned and groaned for the next few hours as he lay upon the couch in green fuzzy pajamas. The younger man was craving substantial food that would potentially upset his weak stomach, and to be honest, the constant blathering from Dave was getting tedious.

Dave said for the fifth time, "Let me have some solid food! I'm not toothless for God's sake!"

And yet again, it was all too easy to make fun of Dave. His master shook his head with a smile. "I never said you were a dragon, Dave."

Dave's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, taken aback as he replied, "Huh?"

"Nothing," Balthazar shot down with a knowing smirk on his face before he handed his apprentice a piece of lightly buttered toast. "Oh, and Dave? I went into your room to see what you were so defensive about."

He grinned manically as he saw his apprentice pale.

"I didn't know you **_really _**needed anti-itch cream."

* * *

_**And here is the end of our little tale here. I am pretty proud of myself, but what do you guys think?**_

_**Was everyone in character? Did you like it in general? What are your thoughts?**_

_**Oh, and thank you to all of my epic reviewers! I reread all of your (95!) reviews and I can't believe how nice you guys are. Thank you so much, it was definitely my readers that got me through.**_

_**Now, to study for midterms. *Groans***_

_**kirby**_


	7. Chapter 7

I have updated the next story that is a little spinoff/sequel to this story, Isolation. I hope you enjoy it!

kitby


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